Parents of 1003 children with moderate or severe intellectual disability attending state schools in New South Wales responded to a survey about provision of services from the time of suspicion or identification of their child’s disability. The survey sought to obtain information about the types of services the parents were offered, the services they used and were still using, and the extent to which they found the services beneficial. Another aim was to see if there were differences between responses of parents of older and younger children which might suggest changes over time or for children of different ages. Parents of younger children were more likely to have received helpful information and to have been referred to support services. Some children were found to be receiving up to eight separate services, while others were receiving nil. Special schools were rated as very useful by the highest number of parents, with parents of younger children showing a slight preference for an integrated placement. Work-related training or activity was mentioned by more than half of the parents as being required in their child’s future.

This article presents the background outlining the development of a locus of control measure designed to examine intellectually disabled students’ expectancy of control of reinforcement in the adaptive behaviour domains. The importance of students’ locus of control in behavioural situations is discussed, as is the theoretical framework upon which the Knight Adaptive Behaviour Locus of Control Scale was developed.

Corrective feedback has long been regarded as an essential element in the teaching-learning process. There is, however, little agreement among educators as to what constitutes appropriate feedback. In reading instruction, views on error correction differ in relation to the perspective on reading adopted.

In this study, the corrective feedback of whole language teachers was examined. The responses of teachers to a set of oral reading miscues were compared to recommended practices for whole language practitioners and to ideal feedback behaviour based on a review of the literature on effective teaching. This information was then used as a basis for examining both the strengths and limitations of whole language instruction for children who experience difficulty in learning to read.

School failure often stems from a mismatch between the language used by children and the language used in schools. Central to the mismatch is the fact that schools use “extended texts” (i.e., long stretches of language that expound a topic). Extended texts impose major and unique language processing demands that are unfamiliar to many children. At the same time, these texts cannot be abandoned since they are central to the school’s educational mission. However, it is possible to modify the form they have commonly taken. This form, developed to meet the constraints of a prior time, is marked by dual disadvantages: a) it emphasizes memory for details, a skill that is problematic in many language disabled students and b) it is based upon “isolated” decontextualized concepts that do not support coherent discussion. This paper offers an alternative model for classroom text which involves the use of a) memory aids (i.e., materials to reduce the need for recall of verbal details) and b) “predicated topics,” (i.e., patterns for structuring conceptual information in a predictable and relevant manner).

Case-based teaching is one way of responding to the challenge of preparing general and special education teachers for the roles they are to assume. We discuss the rationale for case-based instruction and described our efforts to use this approach in teaching a course in behaviour management. Our impression is that although case-based instruction is a promising approach, it has limitations in teacher preparation. It is promising in that it gives voice to teachers’ practical knowledge and helps students become more reflective about teaching practice. It appears to be particularly limited as an approach with trainees who have no prior classroom experience, and it is no substitute for a working knowledge of basic principles.